Jo’s herbal tea

Every morning, Jo Barrett likes to wake up with a special fresh-leaf brewed tea, from whatever she finds in the futurefoodsystem garden.

Herbs are a very easy thing to grow at home, in the garden or in pots on a balcony. Once you’ve got a few growing, you can pick a handful like Jo does, for a morning pick-me-up!

For the tea, you can add whatever is fresh, but at this time of year, Jo’s favourite combo includes Australian native basil – a special type of basil she says smells like coca-cola.

When your coriander goes to seed, you can add in the seeds for a heady flavour punch!

Ingredients

• A few Australian native basil leaves
• Some mint leaves
• Some oregano
• A little bit of fresh coriander
• Some parsley
• Calendula flower petals
• Some dried tea leaves, maybe a quarter of a teaspoon

Method

Put all the leaves and herbs into a big jug and pour boiling water over the top. Be careful if you’re using a glass jug like Jo does! It will need to be strong and you may need to temper it with a little boiling water to start, so it doesn’t crack. Otherwise you can use any earthenware jug.

Leave for 5-10 minutes to brew, then pour and serve.

Enjoy!